By Lisa Burke
April 20th 2016, Complex, Glendale CA: Stoner rock and doom metal has really stepped up its popularity game in the last few years in the Los Angeles metal scene and now comes to us from all across the map. On Wednesday April 20th, 2016 or better known as 4/20, I visited Complex for headliners Demon Eye who were on tour with Disenchanter and the openers on this night were Sssssss! and Chainflower. One aspect I can always count on with seeing shows at the Complex is that the genres of all the bands in a night will fit together well, even if not all are to my personal tastes. This night was no exception and there were some great surprises along the way.
I arrived for Chainflower which is a space rock quartet with pleasant as well as attractive blonde female-fronted vocals. I really enjoyed the singer’s presence and voice, yet I felt it could be pushed further to the max, and while it was dynamic and interesting, it was still a nine on a scale of one to eleven in terms of energy. The drumming was noticeably intense and worked well to set the pace. The sound was spot on and the jams were solid, yet a bit on the simple side where the guitar came across as grunge influenced, simple and bluesy rather than intricate stoner or doom jams, which was totally fine if that was their intention, which by the end I got a grasp of. All aspects considered, this was a decent band to start off my evening with and it only got better from here on out.
Next in line was Portland trio Disenchanter which was also female-fronted by an amazing girl named Sabine Stangenberg who also kicked some major ass on the guitar. They are clearly stoner based with some doomy grooves and some absolutely wonderful and refreshing bluesy guitar licks that have a slight Jimi Hendrix from Mars meets Toni Iommi from Jupiter, and with the added in fancy petal work you’ve got Sabine tearing down the Complex walls with full force. The drumming was great at keeping up with and setting the pace changes, which in a band of this genre is seriously key to unleashing the magic and rising above other bands of similar stature. When it becomes too much of a monotone it can fade out the audience quickly and cheapen the intention and the quality. This band was exciting to watch from start to finish and Sabine really gave some talented male guitars in this genre a run for their money. Someone I know has a theory that there are no bad bands that come from Portland and even though this band re-grouped there, I still have yet to disprove his theory as Danava and Disenchanter remain on the top of my list for great Portland stoner/doom/psychedelic bands you must check out and love.
Finally it was time to prepare for North Carolina’s stoner/doom quartet Demon Eye who could easily summon the loch ness monster out of any body of water with their enchanting guitar and bass riffs. Their latest album ‘Tempora Infernalia’, released last year, is full of heavy hitting fun stoner jams that will leave you wanting more. The energy in the vocals as well as in everything else was high and it always felt as if I was a kid in a classroom actually focused and on the edge of my seat because the teacher was keeping my interest, or at least bribing me with heavy metal, money and candy or something of that nature. The bass player reminded me of Krist Novoselic with Lemmy Kilmister capabilities and his bass was “attractive” too. It was a seriously fun time from beginning to end ,and despite having such a tough act to follow from the previous band, they still came out on top. The guitars were so different in style from the singer’s Gibson to the other player’s Strat but I thought both played off each other well and there were some complex change-ups happening that again are the essence of standing out in a world full of this genre of metal. I’m definitely a fan and wish these guys great success for the future as they certainly earn their worth and command the stage.
One last note I can’t leave out since he was the real star for most of the show was the tour photographer. He made a cameo in a few of my photos and used flash the entire time. So this flash dance he was doing in the non-existent mosh pit made me want to start a stoner mosh pit with just me and him, except I’m sure he’d out flash me and I’d lose from temporary blindness. I’m not going to doubt that he probably got some killer photos, but just because it wasn’t a super packed show doesn’t mean you should be that selfish. All I know is if I was on stage I wouldn’t want constant flash in my eyes while I’m trying to perform, and as a fellow photographer in the audience he might have considered picking a stationary spot with no flash and then changing it up every so often instead of being that bald head bouncing in the middle of all my half bright/half dark photos. While I know I may be speaking from an amateur point of view here as I am not God’s gift to photography, however I do know his job could have been done a bit more gracefully and subtly. Anyway, once again this was a really well put together show and I discovered new talent which is what life is all about. Stop listening to what you already know and discover something new that could change your life for the better.
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